The sheer number of attacks on websites and blogs around the world is increasing on a daily basis, and things are getting worse.
It’s probably safe to assume that if your website or blog hasn’t been hacked yet, then it’s inevitable that at some point in time someone will attempt to hack into your site.
On March 11, 2014, technology sites like Cnet.com reported that 160,000+ legitimate WordPress sites had been hacked.
Thousands of websites are hacked every year! Could yours be next?
(Image source: BlogDefender website)
According to the Cnet report,
“With some old-fashioned trickery, hackers were able to get more than 162,000 legitimate WordPress-powered Web sites to mount a distributed-denial-of-service attack against another Web site.”
(Source: cnet.com/news/ddos-attack-is-launched-from-162000-wordpress-sites)
As reported by security firm Sucuri, hackers had leveraged a flaw to attack unsuspecting WordPress web sites and direct a distributed-denial-of-service attack (DDoS) towards another popular website.
You may think that the information in your site provides no value to hackers, but the reality is that to a hacker, every website provides an opportunity to benefit or profit at your expense.
If a hacker can exploit a weakness in your security, the website can then be employed to target larger and more valuable websites.
The reality is that software-driven bots are searching for vulnerabilities and trying to hack into your site at this very moment. Whether they can break into your site successfully depends on how hard you have made it for them to continue persisting until they either discover how to get access, or give up and go look for a less secure target.
How Much Information Are You Broadcasting To Hackers About Your WordPress Site?
Do you own a WordPress site? If so, visit a site like Hackertarget.com and run your site through their WordPress security check …
(WP Security Check Image source: https://hackertarget.com/wordpress-security-scan)
You will see that the test will return various results and information about your site setup …
(Hackertarget – website security scan results. Screenshot: Hackertarget.com)
It should be obvious after using this tool that if you can freely access all of this information about your website, then hackers can too.
(Screenshot image: BlogDefender.com)
Being able to see what version of WordPress you are using, which plugins and themes you have installed, and which files have been uploaded to certain directories in your site are all potentially useful information to hackers, as this informs them about any security vulnerabilities, especially where site owners haven’t updated their software versions.
Fortunately, there is a simple and inexpensive way to stop broadcasting all of this information about your site and make your site invisible to hackers and bots.
Blog Defender
Product Description
Blog Defender is a package of WordPress security video tutorials, WordPress plugins and tools, plus WordPress security documentation in PDF and DOC formats.
Matt Garrett, the creator of the BlogDefender security suit began looking for a way to develop BlogDefender after noticing that a WordPress site he set up for his mother had been hacked into and suspended by the webhost. This particular blog had practically no value to offer, yet it still was targeted by hackers.
Matt only became aware of what had happened after being suspended by his host and noticing that a significant amount of unusual activity had taken place within the server, as well as the addition of a number of malicious files by whoever had broken into his mother’s site.
(Screenshot: BlogDefender.com)
This example is evidence that every website is valuable to hackers.
Blog Defender shows you where the security holes in your WordPress site are …
And let’s you easily fix these …
Blog Defender – WordPress Plugins
The product suite comes with three plugins for WordPress:
Pro Plugin # 1 in the Blog Defender product suite provides automated backups …
(Source: BlogDefender.com)
Plugin #1 lets you do secure backups to your server, third-party servers and popular cloud storage solutions using different backup methods, schedule complete or partial backups, exclude tables or files from your backups, restore backups, replace URLs (useful when migrating sites to different domains or server locations), do mass text string replacements in your WordPress database, perform auto database scans and repairs, and more.
Plugin #2 provides WordPress security …
(Product image: BlogDefender website)
Plugin #2 provides a range of vital site security functions (see “Features” section below).
Plugin #3 scans your plugins, WordPress themes and core files to see if code in your files has been tampered with, and repair any problems it finds …
(Source: Blog Defender)
Pro Plugin # 3 also scans content to see if any malicious content have been added to your site files, bans bad bots, blocks brute force attacks and detects any content leeching (where people benefit from your content without providing any reciprocal benefit or value in return).
Tutorials Videos
In addition to plugins, the Blog Defender suite of products also includes 7 step-by-step video training modules and written guides that will show you exactly how to protect your website from hackers …
(Source: Blog Defender)
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
Benefits Of Using Blog Defender
Here are just some of the many benefits of using Blog Defender to make your WordPress site invisible to hackers and botnets on your site:
Installation Is Easy
The plugins install just like any WordPress plugin. Just upload them to your Plugin folder via your dashboard and activate.
Very Simple And Easy To Follow
Blog Defender can be used as a step-by-step training product that will take you through the website security process and show you exactly what to do, including how to set everything up, and even which free plugins you should install to get things done.
Some additional benefits of using the plugin include the following:
- Secure your site from hackers, spammers, botnets, data mining tools and malicious users whose aims is to ruin your business for their own personal and financial gain.
- Prevent Intellectual Property Theft – If you’re a digital product author (e.g. downloadable ebooks, video training, etc.), your work can be stolen and end up as freeware on peer-to-peer sharing sites.
- Avoid Getting Suspended By Your Web Host And Deindexed By Search Engines – When a site has been hacked, expect to go through a great deal of inconvenience and heartache. It can take days to uncover problems and sort through the issues these have caused. As a result, your, blog could get closed by your host, or even blacklisted by search engines. Additionally, hackers can spam your contact list and steal your business details or financial information, you could end up being fined or even charged with fraud, and more.
Blog Defender Features
Blog Defender provides many unique features to WP users.
Blog Defender helps you fix all of the following security areas and vulnerabilities:
- Host Security Advisory
- Plugin Security Audits
- WordPress Theme Security Audits
- Anti Brute Force Security
- Anti Cross-Site Scripting
- WP Database Security
- Nefarious Traffic Blocking
- Hide WordPress ‘Tell Tale’ Signs
- Anti-Comment Spam Blocking
- File Monitoring
- Monitor Links
- Blocking Known Offenders
- Automating WordPress Updates
- WordPress Security Audit
- Tighten Server Security
- Kick Out Policy
- Reputation Checking
- And More …
Blog Defender provides a logical process for securing your web site, addressing potential hosting security issues, using tools to quickly identify risky WP themes and plugins, and then helping you implement website-wide security using the tools and plugins provided.
(Blog Defender website security process. Product image: Blog Defender)
Testimonials From Users
Here are just a few of the testimonials and comments plugin customers have submitted for the Blog Defender solution:
”I’ve had to go through the inconvenience of a hacked blog before and let me tell you it’s not nice. With online security becoming an increasing problem, especially with WordPress, this is a great way to secure your blog. I’ll be following Matt’s training and securing all my blogs…Great job.” JohnThornhill – www.johnthornhill.com
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”A top level force against hacker attacks!” Micheal Nicholas, Impact Info Marketing
Plugin Tips
According to Matt Garrett, the plugin developer, since the release of Blog Defender, no Blog Defender-protected websites or blogs have been hacked.
The product developer states on his site, however …
“With the volume of attacks nowadays … we probably won’t hold forever, so we’ve been busy creating even tougher WordPress security.”
Cybersecurity is is a constant game of cat and mouse and all security solutions are only as good as the information and tools developers can harness. The latest release of Blog Defender creates an easier security solution that doesn’t need constant attention, is quite inexpensive and it’s as good if not better than most web security products or services currently being offered at a higher price.
Product Support
The product is well-supported, can be used by both Mac and PC users, is compatible with the latest WordPress release and is backed by a risk-free, 30 day, complete money-back guarantee.
Product Cost
Blog Defender is normally available with a personal license only for use on unlimited sites. When we last checked, however, it was also being sold with Developer rights, allowing users to secure client sites as well.. Cost = $47.00.
Please Note: The price of the product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Presently, the software retails for the pricing shown above. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the product author when you visit the product site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for the current pricing information here:
Additional Plugin Information
For installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Blog Defender website.
Install The Plugins
No matter what type of business you run or plan to run online and how small you think your web presence is, you simply cannot afford to ignore the importance of web security.
WordPress is a very secure web platform, but neglecting essential maintenance tasks like updating your WordPress software, WP plugins and themes, tightening file and data security and taking other necessary precautions can expose your website to malicious by hackers and bots.
Adopting security procedures like the one Blog Defender provides, will help you understand what’s going on in your site and where the security holes are, what hosting companies can and can’t do to help prevent your sites being compromised, what security features to look for in a webhost, and which tools can make the task of securing your WordPress installation easier.
For full details, check out the plugin here: Blog Defender Security Solution For WordPress Websites & Blogs
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